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Acknowledgements

The Massachusetts Legislative Task Force on the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse gratefully acknowledges the long hours, intensive work, research, and remarkable dedication to the children of the Commonwealth shown by everyone who contributed to this report. In particular, the Task Force would like to thank and recognize the efforts of the following individuals and organizations:

• Suzin Bartley, Executive Director of the Children’s Trust, and Maria Mossaides, the Commonwealth’s Director of the Office of the Child Advocate, for their leadership and commitment as co-chairs of this Task Force;
• The Committee Chairs of the Task Force, especially Nancy Scannell of MSPCC, for their leadership and for their additional meeting time, ensuring that regular Task Force meeting agendas and activities and key decisions were completed in a timely and thoughtful fashion (see Appendix 3 for committee lists);
• Anitza Guadarrama-Tiernan, Maureen Ferris, Suzanne O’Malley, and Jack Miller from the Children’s Trust for their Task Force staffing efforts and ongoing contributions to this work; and with special thanks to Anthony P. (Tony) Rizzuto, Ph.D., (consultant) for his extraordinary expertise, skills, and knowledge, and for his tireless efforts to author this report in coordination with the Task Force committees and chairs, outside contributing experts and the general membership;
• Outside Experts and Key Presenters who provided their expertise and thoughtful insights into key issues and solutions to the prevention of child sexual abuse;
• The Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities who created this Task Force, ensuring that the Commonwealth’s children are free from harm and protected from the dangers of child sexual abuse;
• The special support of Senator William Brownsberger, Senator Joan Lovely and their staffs;
• The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for their financial support; and,

Individual Members of the Task Force

Representing nearly 30 child and family serving agencies, offices, and organizations in Massachusetts, for their individual perspectives and areas of expertise, each of whom contributed to the breadth and depth of this report as follows:

1. Alliance of Massachusetts YMCAs
   • Peter Doliber
2. Children’s League of Massachusetts
   • Erin Bradley
   • Keely DeChristopher
3. Department of Children and Families
   • Lori Ann Bertram
4. Department of Early Education and Care
   • Anne Connors
   • Commissioner Tom Weber
5. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
   • Anne Gilligan
6. Department of Mental Health
   • Charity Bell-Lewitt
7. Department of Public Health
   • Mark Bergeron-Naper
   • Carlene Pavlos
8. Girl Scouts of Eastern MA
   • Diane Gauthier
   • Patricia Parcellin
   • Melanie Tavares-Wills
9. House Chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities
   • Representative Kay Khan
   • Lisa Rosenfeld
10. House Minority Leader
    • Representative Susannah Whipps
11. Massachusetts Adolescent Sex Offender Coalition
    • Melissa Gopnik
    • Joan Tabachnick
12. Massachusetts After-School Partnership
    • Ardith Wieworka
13. Massachusetts Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs
14. Massachusetts Association for Treatment of Sexual Abusers
    • Laura Guidry
15. Massachusetts Children’s Alliance
    • Tom King
16. Massachusetts Citizens for Children
    • Jetta Bernier
17. Massachusetts District Attorneys Association
    • Jennifer Franco
    • Tara Maguire
18. Mass. Mentoring Partnership
    • Marty Martinez
    • Chelsea Aquino
19. Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance
    • Diane Coffey
    • Liam Lowney
20. Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
    • Nancy Scannell
    • Meghan McGuirk
21. Office of the Attorney General
    • The Honorable Gail Garinger
22. Office of the Child Advocate
    • Maria Mossaides
    • Elizabeth Armstrong
    • Christine Palladino-Downs
    • Edie Rathbone
23. Office of the Lieutenant Governor
    • Tammy Mello
24. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston
    • Vivian Soper
    • Maureen DiMilla
25. Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities
    • Senator Jennifer Flanagan
    • Shannon Moore
26. Senate Minority Leader
    • Senator Bruce Tarr
    • Seth Yorra
27. Sex Offender Registry Board
    • Judy Norton
    • Laurie Myers
28. The Children’s Trust
    • Suzin Bartley
    • Jack Miller
    • Anitza Guadarrama-Tiernan
    • Maureen Ferris